Food, appetite and consumption in postmodern film

Abstract

Abstract The following dissertation aims to analyse and explore the significance of consumption and consumerism, from both a personal and global perspective, by viewing society through the prism of what it chooses to eat. It will be argued that food is a powerful tool of communication, as it allows one to assert a sense of individuality and at the same time, integration in the world, with the choice of certain foods, the rejection of others and the specific preparation we choose to impose on our food in order to make it suit our personal and cultural tastes. Appetite is explored insofar as there are many kinds other than the culinary; the sexual, the violent and thus the origins and ramifications of these appetites must be explored in order to better understand why we consume. The choice of American, French and English texts allow for a broader scope of analysis, and what these countries choose to include in their cultural diets allows us to better understand the consumerism within their societies. The significance of using film is that it provides a richly visual impact which one could compare to the surveying of a sumptuous meal. It is said that we eat with our eyes first, and the camera allows us to witness the consumption we see taking place on screen and we are encouraged to consume the films by reflecting on our own consumptive habits and appetites. The theatrical style of Tarantino and Greenaway allows for the intertextuality between film and the stage. The blending of time frames in Jeunet and Caro’s work with the use of a retro-style film that actually takes place in the future and Tarantino’s use of a non-linear narrative, allows the potency and power of film to emerge; what the camera allows us to see and what it hides from us, especially when expressing the concerns of postmodernism. We are given the opportunity to relate to the characters of these films by viewing what they eat, what appetites they cultivate, the effects of their consumptive habits, and finally, we are encouraged to consider what role we play in the consumer world.